Courtesy I-news

If the presence of British human remains in the containers is confirmed, it is feared the remains may have originated from NHS hospitals

Sri Lankan customs officials inspect the load of a container at a port in Colombo (Photo: AFP/Getty Images)

The Sri Lankan government has urged Britain to take back more than 100 containers containing hazardous waste including human remains said to come from mortuaries.

Port of Colombo officials made the discovery while investigating a strong smell” emanating from 111 containers which have been arriving at the docks over the past two years.

Inside the crates, customs officials found the extremely hazardous” materials mixed in with mattresses, plastics and clinical waste.

The waste has triggered concerns about water contamination, because the port is close to an estuary.

Waste triggers concerns

Some of the materials have been liquidised and deteriorated to the point that we cannot even examine them and the waste is emitting a bad odour,” a customs department spokesman, Sunil Jayaratne, said.

The discovery sparked anger on the island. Environmentalists and Buddhist monks demonstrated outside the British High Commission in Colombo.

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Many of the containers are believed to have arrived from the UK as long ago as 2017.

According to reports, they were only inspected last week after port officials complained of smells and leaking liquids.

‘Smells and leaking fluids’

A Sri Lankan businessman, Rohan Masakorala, was identified by local reporters as the importer of the containers. He has denied any wrongdoing and insists no human remains were inside.

British waste disposal experts said that disguising human remains as recyclable metals would be highly lucrative as it is illegal to export anatomical waste such as human organs or body parts.

The UK Government said it was committed to tackling illegal waste exports”, with guilty parties facing a two-year jail term or unlimited fine.

Britain could only repatriate the waste if it could be shown it was illegally exported directly from the UK, if those who exported it either could not be identified or refused to bring it back, and a formal request from the Sri Lankan government was made.

If the presence of British human remains in the containers is confirmed, it is feared the remains may have originated from NHS hospitals which are struggling to dispose of anatomical waste.